Monday, May 8, 2023

Oakland's Catholic Diocese declared bankruptcy because it's facing over 300 sex abuse claims; Mormon Church fined by the SEC for hiding its wealth

LAT:
“Given our current financial resources,” [the Roman Catholic bishop of Oakland] said, it’s not possible to “shoulder the burden of litigating 330 cases.”
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Other California-based dioceses also facing a wave of lawsuits have filed or pondered filing bankruptcies in the last few months, including dioceses in Santa Rosa, Sacramento and San Diego.
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[The bishop] clarified that Catholic schools were separate legal entities and not included in the bankruptcy case and would continue operating normally.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its $32 billion portfolio, which was under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
Seemingly confirming the closed-ness of the matter, the church’s auditing report in the last General Conference made no mention of the settlement with the SEC nor the $5 million fine leveled against the church and its investment arm, Ensign Peak. The announcement of compliance with “Church-approved accounting practices” rang rather hollow in the wake of such public revelations of impropriety.